Of Graves and Stars
by Lixie Lorn
Summary: Fantasy. Very few wizards use the darker arts of magic for the good of humanity. Let alone necromancy. But few is very different from none. T for grimdark.
1. The Warriors

_Yep, entirely random plotbunny._

Disclaimer-I do not own Warhammer, just the plot and OCs.

Of Graves and Stars

"Sir! Sir! The Orcs are coming! THE ORCS ARE COMING!" shouted the scout, running into the camp, longbow hanging from his back.

The town's captain grimaced, and drew a horn from his belt.  
He blew it, a single note thundering through the village, a shrill note, a noise of fear that scared animal and human alike, warning them all.

Within minutes, the people of the town were inside, its militia and soldiers assembled by the gates, the only real entrance.

In the distance, green was beginning to appear.

"There's no need for me to say anything." began the captain. "You know why we fight. We fight for our lives, and the lives of those we care for. I'm not going to indignify you by suggesting you need encouragement. To the death." he said.  
"To the death." replied the warriors.

Now, the green was noticeably Orc. Hundreds of them.

They charged, covering the huge distance in under a minute, pouring into the tide, with an unholy cry.  
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

* * *

Only seconds had passed, and the captain was surrounded by the Orcs. He couldn't see a single other human as he parried with speed even he didn't know he had.

He ducked under one blow to stab its owner through the throat, and dodged another to disembowel a second. A third charged at him, and he decapitated it.

He was wearing almost no armour. A strike from one of the Orcs could easily penetrate their armour, and it would only slow them down to wear it.

Suddenly the square was empty.

"Sir! Captain Lawrence." called another voice.

There were only four of them left. Captain Lawrence, a woman named Naomi, who had spoken, and two men called John and James. Twins.

And there were more Orcs coming.

"What do we do?" asked Naomi.  
"We fight. John, James, go evacuate the town. Naomi, we're going to hold them off as long as possible." said Lawrence.

John and James, one tall, one short and well built, nodded, looking equal parts relieved and embarrassed that they were going to survive.

They left, calling out.

Naomi walked to the gate with Lawrence, holding a pair of short swords, while Lawrence used a longsword and buckler.

At the gate, wide enough for about four people, they knew they were almost certainly going to die.  
But, with a defensible position like the gate, they could hold for hours. Only a few could get to them at once, and they could keep killing until the dropped.

Gazing on the Orc horde arrayed in front of them, they knew they would drop, and they would die.

The Orcs charged with another warcry, and the two warriors were swamped.

They were doing astoundingly, slaying Orcs by the dozen. But, inevitably, they couldn't defeat them alone.

Six armoured forms came from behind them, slashing with great two handed weapons, their edges glowing with a golden light.

Where they struck the Orcs, they burnt them.  
The Greenskins' confident manner changed to a slightly worried one.

Shards of golden energy stormed down from the sky, exploding amongst the Orcs, burning whole swathes of them.

Most of the Orcs turned to run, scared of the danger descending from high above. Just the front few continued to fight Naomi, Lawrence and the strange warriors.

Their attacks clashed with the armour of the odd fighters, sliding off, unable to mark the black metal, the failed attacks leaving the only opening necessary to kill the Greenskins.  
Just one of the choppas managed to cut into, and through one of the warriors, slashing through its entire leg.

The Warrior killed the Orc responsible as it fell.  
And there was quiet.

The Orcs were driven off or killed.

Naomi and Lawrence were staring at the downed warrior, at the revelation under its armour. A skeleton. No more.

"Ah. This could be a problem." said a voice from behind the two.  
The voice belonged to a tall man, maybe twenty-five, white-blonde hair and brown eyes. He wore a long cloak, black with gold edging, matching the armour of the 'warriors.' Underneath that, it was impossible to tell.

"Explain yourself!" shouted Lawrence at him.  
"Simple." he said. "I am Johann Krieger, Master Wizard of the Order of Light, and the one and only Necromancer in the service of the Emperor."

* * *

_Ooh~_


	2. To Walk the Shadows

_Ohaio._

Chapter 2-To Walk the Shadows

"I don't trust you." growled Lawrence, levelling his sword at this Johann.  
"Make one wrong move and you die, wizard." growled Naomi, settling into a fighting stance.

Johann sighed.  
"Oh, never had this before." he muttered. "Erienne!" he shouted.

Over the horizon, where the Orcs had seemingly run, was a loud noise. A cloud of smoke rose into the air.

A figure sauntered over from the hill, twirling a large Orc's head by its hair.

"Hey." she said to the two warriors pointing their weapons at Johann, a slight Bretonnian accent audible in her speech. "Stop threatening him. I'm a wizard of the Bright Order, do as I say or I'll incinerate you. Oh, not to mention that his personal soldiers outnumber you more than two to one." she said.  
She grinned suddenly.  
"I'm Erienne. And in case you don't believe what I told you, here's the proof."

Reaching into the red cloak that she wore, obscuring anything else, she bought out a small, printed sheet.

Lawrence took it.

It was a simple piece, marked with her name, and authentication that she was as she said. It featured an excellently drawn picture of her, and it was signed by Balthasar Gelt, Grand Master of the eight colleges himself.

Lawrence grudgingly gave it back, and dropped his weapons. Naomi did the same.

"Well, now that's done." said Erienne. "We should be leaving."

"Where are you going?" asked Naomi, thrown off balance by the sudden change of subject.  
"Chaos is invading." said Erienne, her face serious suddenly. "We're going to join the armies going to fight them.

"I'm coming." said Naomi. "I want to fight."  
Erienne took her seriously, and nodded.  
"Naomi, we need to stay to guard the village." said Lawrence.

"Small forces are being sent by the Electors to guard every single village." said Johann. "For safety during the war."  
"Oh." said Lawrence. "In that case, I'm coming too."  
Naomi laughed, as did Erienne.  
Even Johann managed a smile.

* * *

"We're all going to die." muttered Johann.  
"I'm going to set you on fire in a minute." said Erienne. "I could beat those odds on my own.

They were talking about an army. An army of foul skaven, rat men that lived underground. At least, when they weren't invading.

"Forget this." said Erienne.

Before anyone could stop her. a fireball arced into the skaven lines, incinerating a huge clump of them as it exploded into smaller fireballs in mid air.

The skaven panicked and ran in all directions, some directly at the ridge where the four were hiding.

"You idiot!" hissed Johann.  
"What have you done?" asked a horrified Naomi.  
"If you hadn't done it spontaneously, I'd applaud your planning." said Lawrence.

Everyone stared at him, as unknowing skaven ran past their position.  
"Skaven are notoriously cowardly. They can't see us from here." said Lawrence. "Attacking them with something powerful, especially something beyond their abilities, is going to cause them to panic."

There was silence.  
Then Erienne grinned.  
"See? I'm a genius."  
"No, you're a pyromaniac. A lucky one." said Johann.

He stood up, to shocked cries from some nearby Skaven.  
From behind the group stood six silent, armoured forms, which hacked apart the nearby Skaven with ease.

Naomi and Lawrence stood up, clearly impressed.  
"Shall we go on?" asked Erienne.  
"Yes." said Johann. "Next time, THINK first."

Erienne just grinned.

* * *

"We're here to fight." said Erienne to the dubious Imperial Captain.  
"And the four of you are… wizards." he said.  
"Well, two of us." interjected Johann.

"We're not." interjected Naomi, pointing at Lawrence.

"What about them?" asked the Captain, looking at the six armoured figures.  
"Don't ask, and I don't have to lie." said Johann.

"Well, its immaterial." said the Captain. "We can't afford to hire one wizard."  
"You don't need to." said Erienne. "We're here to fight, we don't need payment."

Johann looked scandalised by this statement, and Erienne hit him gently.  
"Well, in that case we'd be glad to have you." said the Captain. "We should be fighting soon. If those armoured forms are something unpleasant, keep that out of the armies knowledge, and by god, if you turn on us we'll kill you."

Naomi looked like she was going to say something, and Lawrence put a hand on her shoulder.

"Yes sir." said Johann.

* * *

"So, the Light Order?" asked one of the soldiers.  
Naomi, Lawrence, Erienne and Johann were among the camp. Erienne was plain enough, what with her bright red cloak, but Johann with his black and gold was less obvious.

"That's right." said Johann.  
"Pfft. What can they do?"

"Well." said an irritated Johann. "I can save your life when you're dying from an untreatable wound. Or I can blind my enemies, or melt their skin." he finished.

"Oh." said the soldier. "Pretty useful then."  
"You don't know the half of it." threw in Naomi, her voice littered with dark significance.

Before any of the soldiers around the dimly lit camp could ask her meaning, another ran in. He was lightly armed and armoured, a scout.

"Skaven." he said, out of breath. "A huge host of them. Arm. Now."

There was a second of silence, and sudden havoc as everyone rushed to prepare.

Not fast enough.

Glowing green energy speared down from over the hills, lightning up the sky and incinerating a group of warriors.

Not nearly fast enough.

* * *

_Ooh~ SKAVEEEN~  
Yes, still quite short. It's quarter to one. AM. And this is a good place to end the chapter._


	3. Sunfire

_Hey. Hows yoooouuu?_

Chapter Three-Sunfire

The rats crested the horizon, running towards the camp, a host of them so large it was beyond numbers.

The Imperial captain's face went white, and he began to shout orders.  
"Everyone with a long range attack use it now!" he cried. "Kurt, get the weapon ready! Now!"

Johann wondered briefly what the weapon was, and then began to gather the golden energy of the wind of Hysh. Nearby, Erienne gathered the power of Aqshy.

Light and fire gathered between them, forming a shining globe of white hot energy, that lifted, floating, and then flew above the Skaven lines, where is shone for a few moments.

The rats faltered briefly.

The sphere exploded, raining burning fragments of light into their opposition.  
Both Erienne and Johann looked a little tired after that spectacular attack, but hundreds of Skaven were dead-maybe more.

Burnt and dead ratmen lay in heaps in the centre of the attacking forces, and those around them tried to back away, pushed by their leaders at the back to continue attacking.

The weapon fired.  
A cloud of spiralling rockets flew forwards.

Helstorm batteries were famously inaccuratw-But to miss, you need an enemy who isn't everywhere.

The rockets tore into the enemy forces, exploding at once with earthshaking power.

With these two attacks, hundreds of them were killed, possibly even a thousand.

But the Skaven believe in strength in numbers.

They kept coming. Two, three times as many as those already killed.

Blasts of green power erupted above the horizon, and hurtling balls of warpstone flew into the camp, exploding with the force of a powerful incendiary, leaking chaotic radiation everywhere.

A rumbling thunder rang out. Handguns, on masse, firing at the oncoming horde. A whistling sound, as arrows began to fly towards them.

The first rank of rats died. And the second.

_But they still kept coming._

A unit of Halberdiers charged forwards, supported by small groups of swordsmen, finally meeting the enemy forces.

Johann sent his armoured warriors into the battle. He'd been hard at work the previous night-there were at least twoscore of them around the camp, thus his pale skin and tired expression.

Erienne charged into the fray, her swords igniting with fiery energy as she shouted, "For the Lady, The King and the Lands!"

Naomi and Lawrence, astounded by the display of power and ferocity, followed her, drawing their own weapons.

Johann made incomprehensible signs in the air, and charged into the battle, unarmed.  
His hands were glowing with bright golden energy, striking his enemies with the power of a cannonball.

There was a moment when the area directly around them was clear, and Erienne began to cast a powerful spell, a bright haze of heat appearing over the Skaven.

A lashing bolt of green lightning slashed through it, and Erienne winced. She renewed her efforts, and Johann channelled his own bright hot magic into it.

Over the horizon, a Grey Seer chattered with fear, and ate a piece of warpstone.

The warp lightning tore the air, striking the Rocket Battery before it could fire again, destroying it with a horrific explosion.

Erienne began to run towards the creator of the lightning.

The Skaven all but parted to let her through, knowing that she was the creator of the devastating fire magic, and she could suddenly see the face of the Grey Seer.  
His white eyes were glowing with the green power of warpstone.

Johann, Lawrence and Naomi, meanwhile, were trying to follow her, and failing. Though the Skaven were afraid of Erienne's fire, they hadn't realised Johann had been a part of it.

He cursed, and held out a hand, a beam of light searing from it.  
But the Skaven leaders were working hard to keep their rats fighting. They pressed in on the three, forcing them to stop and fight,

Erienne lashed out with a whip of flames, only to see it shattered by green lightning. Then again, and a third time.

Erienne lashed out with a fiery sword, and the Seer vanished in a cloud of smoke, reappearing behind her, stabbing at her with a short dagger.

She screamed as it stuck into her, and lashed out with both the swords she held.

He vanished again, reappearing a few metres away with a superior grin.  
She tore the dagger from her back, and held it as she prepared another spell.

The dagger dissolved into pure magic, its warpstone being broken down, purified into pure magic and converted to flame.

The Grey Seer was engulfed in green flames. In seconds he was dead.

Erienne looked around, and saw no-one. She picked up the Seer's pouch, seeing a large supply of warpstone within.  
She hid it inside her cloak.

* * *

_Hmmmm? Any good?_


End file.
